Respite from a Dark World
by DrKCooper
Summary: A post-ep for "Demonology" (4x17).


_Disclaimer: All recognizable_ Criminal Minds _characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners including, but not limited to CBS. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this fan fiction story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No financial gain is associated with the publishing of this story. No copyright infringement is intended._

Author's Note: I believe this is only my second story in the _Criminal Minds_ fandom. I love J.J./Prentiss. This is a post-ep for "Demonology" (04x17). I try not to think about Will. -dkc

 **Respite from a Dark World**

The knock on the door startled Jennifer. It was late, she was alone and she wasn't expecting anyone.

"Prentiss?" she was surprised to find her fellow agent when she opened the apartment door.

Worry immediately set in when the blonde noticed blood on the collar of both Emily's shirt and coat as well as traces on her upper lip.

"Are you hurt? What happened?" J.J. pulled her in, closing the door behind them.

"No, it's just a bloody nose," she shrugged it off. "I didn't really have any way of cleaning up. I was out walking."

Ever one to take charge of a situation quietly and without an over abundance of fuss, J.J. had led them to the kitchen where she'd soaked a cloth to use to clean up. As Emily set to that, J.J. motioned for her coat.

"A walk? It's cold out there. Not to mention late and dark," she chided.

When Emily raised an eyebrow and refrained from smirking, the other woman smiled.

"Even a badass FBI agent is vulnerable, you know."

Smiling at the 'badass' comment, Prentiss handed back the cloth.

"Would you like something to drink?" she grabbed two glasses from the drain board.

"Got anything that will really burn on the way down? she asked.

It was J.J.'s turn to raise an eyebrow. She was concerned, but didn't want to press.

"I don't suppose you mean scalding tea," the agent pulled a bottle of scotch from the cabinet and poured them each a generous amount. "I can soak your shirt if you'd like."

Looking down and finding blood spots on her collar as well as her chest, Emily found herself momentarily distracted by the feelings that had enveloped her outside the church. It was when the nosebleed had begun.

"I'll throw it out when I get home, but thanks."

"Come sit down," J.J. walked toward the living room and Emily followed.

Once they were settled on the couch, silence set in while both nursed their drinks. Finally J.J. spoke, hoping Prentiss would follow suit.

"I can't imagine how awful this case was for you. It's hard enough to do what we do without a personal connection. You lost a friend."

"We hadn't been close in a very long time," Prentiss felt pain in saying it.

"He was still your friend."

Prentiss found herself wondering why she'd come here. She could have gone home. She could have reached out to Rossi, her newest confidant. But it was J.J. that made every effort to be both a friend and a safe place, a shelter from the ugliness in the world that their jobs exposed them to repeatedly.

"I told Rossi about my abortion," she found herself speaking it as if it required forgiveness. She'd never told the woman before her the story behind it, only that it had happened when Emily was a teenager.

"Wow. I assume this case?—your friend?" she didn't need detailed answers any more than Emily needed to elaborate.

The agent nodded while swallowing more of the amber liquid.

"I'm sorry, Em," she placed a hand over one of Emily's.

Tears were welling in the agent's eyes. She looked down at their hands and that glance, a slight tilt of the head, caused tears to begin falling down her cheeks.

J.J.'s arm wrapped around Emily and she pulled her close.

"I'm sorry you lost a friend, Em," she pressed her cheek against the crown of raven-black hair. "I'm sorry you had to go through this."

It was the first time Prentiss had allowed herself to really cry. She was grieving the loss of a childhood friend as well as her own innocence at a time when he had stood by her. She also realized her faith required grieving.

J.J. shushed her repeatedly as she pulled her head down to a comforting shoulder. The slight gasps of air that came with her sobs began to slow and she finally sat up straight, wiping tears from her eyes and brushing her hair back out of her face.

"Sorry," she shook her head in embarrassment.

"Don't be," J.J. found herself leaning in to press a kiss to Emily's temple.

There was a moment between the blonde leaning in and the connection of her lips with Emily's head that the air seemed to be sucked out of the room.

In the tenure of their friendship, Emily and Jennifer had grown closer with every heinous case they worked. As the only women on the plane, they quickly had a bond. Their personal lives soon blurred with their professional lives. Prentiss may have been more private by nature, but with J.J. she grew comfortable and trusting quickly.

"Em..." J.J.'s voice was soft, sincere.

Dark eyes came to look at the younger woman as hesitation entered her thoughts before quickly being passed over by desire. By now it was not a surprise when Emily leaned in to press her own lips to those that had been at her temple seconds before.

It was subtle. It was comforting. And it was without drama. There was no embarrassment or guilt. It was the organic continuation of their private interactions in recent months.

As their lips parted, forehead resting against forehead, J.J.'s mind went back to a conversation on that very couch nearly a year prior when Emily, in a drunken fit of giggles, the drinking a response to a brutal week in Oregon on the hunt for a torturous child murderer, told her friend that she had been sleeping with a female agent in forensic accounting at the FBI. It was the first time that Prentiss voiced her bisexuality, a truth J.J. had long suspected. That Emily was attracted to her was of no shock.

"I guess I shouldn't have followed up sobbing with that," Emily smiled.

"I won't complain," J.J.'s tone was light and flirtatious.

They both chuckled softly.

"Please let me soak your shirt. I can save it from the trash," J.J. said.

"Yeah, okay," Prentiss undid the top button, standing from the couch simultaneously with Jennifer. They made their way to the closet beside the bathroom where the stackable washer and dryer were located.

Prentiss began unbuttoning her shirt and was surprised when Jareau's hands came in contact with her own. The blonde took control, unbuttoning the remaining buttons until the shirt was open. She looked up into Emily's eyes and suddenly became embarrassed.

"Sorry, I—" she didn't have a ready excuse.

"You can't be this bad at reading people. You're a profiler, for crying out loud," she playfully nudged Jennifer's chin.

"I'm a communications liaison," she shrugged.

"You're a supervisory special agent," Emily retorted

"Em..."

One syllable, a syllable that was only ever utilized by Jareau when addressing her, and Prentiss' lips went into action. She leaned into Jennifer and kissed her hard. She left no doubt about her intentions. J.J.'s hands, the encircled ring finger of her left included, tangled in dark hair. Emily allowed the eager tongue to dip past her lips, responding by gripping her friend's hip.

"God, Em," J.J. gasped for air.

"We probably shouldn't do that again," Emily was reminding herself of Will's existence as she caught her breath. She had no idea what the status of their marriage was at this point, though it had appeared they were separated and headed for divorce.

"Probably?" she said with the kind of tone that made Emily crazy.

"You..." she paused. "I won't."

"And if I wanted you to?" Jennifer didn't sound the least bit conflicted.

A soft groan escaped Prentiss as she contemplated the consequences of her actions.

"Is he..." she couldn't even speak Will's name. "Jayj, after Matthew's death, all I could think about was how much I regretted not staying close to him. Regret is a powerful thing."

Jennifer took her hand, her eyes never leaving Prentiss.

"I will never regret loving you."

This was all Emily needed to hear. Her mouth landed back on J.J.'s

The smaller woman pinned Prentiss against the wall. She held to the lapels of the open shirt as she allowed Emily to kiss her passionately. Strong hands tangled in her hair. Hips came together, breath shortened and in gasps.

"Jayj…" Emily moaned when the agent's hands slid down the shirt, brushed against an exposed chest.

"Come with me," the response was accompanied by a slight tug at the shirt.

Obeying, Prentiss followed J.J. into the bedroom where a small bedside lamp was the only light shining in the space. The bed was turned down; surely its owner had prepared it soon before Emily had arrived. It beckoned to them.

As Jennifer pulled her shirt over her head, breath was lost to the woman watching her.

"God," she finally spoke, her eyes ogling small, yet perfectly firm breasts and sculpted abs.

Seemingly awarding her friend for her response to seeing her shirtless, J.J. reached behind and unclasped her bra, slipping the straps over her arms and dropping it to the carpeted floor. Emily could contain her desire no longer. Taking two strides toward J.J., she wrapped her arms around the blonde and resumed kissing her. Her hands found the bare place at the small of J.J. back, right above her waistband. She used the position and her long arms to allow her hands to slip past the waistband. She felt the lacey trim of panties, slipping past them as well until her hands were grasping firm cheeks.

It didn't take long for Prentiss to pull J.J.'s lounge pants down her legs. As she was working the pants off, Jennifer pushed the stained shirt off Emily's shoulders. The taller woman looked down over alabaster skin, her eyes wandering across every inch.

"Em..." J.J.'s eyes were dark, her tone pleading.

Undoing her own belt, her slacks were tugged over lithe hips before dropping to the floor. Jennifer had always enjoyed Emily's legs—they seemed to go on for days.

"God, you're beautiful." It was J.J. who spoke first. She couldn't tear her eyes away.

The compliment spurred Emily on. She crawled onto the bed, her eyes never leaving the blonde's. As she rose onto her elbows, her arched back pushed out her breasts. J.J. was not able to resist. She wanted to see the two things left to imagination under that tempting bra.

In nothing but her panties, the shorter woman crawled atop wanting hips. Their breath caught as pelvises came in contact.

"God," Emily moaned.

Jennifer leaned forward; kissing whatever skin she could reach. Their lips made contact sporadically as J.J. continued exploring. With Emily's head thrown back, she enjoyed every touch. But as she closed her eyes, the weight of the last several days was catching up to her. She couldn't stop thinking about the girl she had been back then and how she had become the woman she was today. The woman she was in this moment—under J.J.

The tears began before she even realized it. She was breaking apart.

When J.J. lips found damp cheeks it was obvious to her what was happening. This wasn't about them, far from it.

"Oh, Em," she sighed; her heart broke for this woman that she cared deeply for. "Come here."

Bringing her own legs together, wrapping herself around Emily's side, J.J. pulled the woman to her chest and held her tight as the tears continued to flow.

"It's okay," she murmured, pressing a kiss to dark hair. "You're okay."

Sobs shook Emily's body. Everything she had been feeling and forced down in the last few days had surfaced mercilessly.

"I'm sorry," the strangled words escaped.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. Absolutely nothing, Em, you hear me?"

J.J. lifted the agent's face from her chest so she could look into those sad eyes.

"You didn't kill him. You weren't responsible. And back then? Stop beating yourself up, honey. You have nothing at all to be sorry for."

A gentle kiss was pressed to Prentiss' lips before she was once again wrapped in loving arms.

Where the path this night was going had been detoured, but in this moment Emily had found exactly what she needed—respite. While they had developed a strong, needed friendship on planes crisscrossing the country, something else had developed between them that connected them at a deeper level. Respite in the dark world that they saw up close every day of every week of the year had brought them to this place where almost lovers consoled one another.

Emily would be okay.

 _-finis-_


End file.
